Whether you're celebrating Passover in the coming days or not, you need this vegan matzo ball soup in your life! No eggs, no animal products, just all the deliciousness made with cozy matzo balls and veggies in scrumptious savory broth.
Okay, before I start, confession: I've never had non-vegan matzo ball soup. So I'm far from being an expert on matzo ball soup. I always wanted to try it, but traditional versions are made with eggs and chicken fat, so that wasn't happening.
But I have experimented with creating vegan versions over the years. Well, I finally think I perfected it! With Passover coming up, now seemed like a great time to share my results.
While I can't say I'm sure what matzo ball soup with chicken fat and eggs is supposed to taste like, I can tell you that this vegan matzo ball soup is freaking delicious.
In place of chicken fat, I used plain old olive oil in my matzo balls. And instead of egg, I used potato starch. With these swaps I found it tricky (not impossible though) to get the balls to hold together while simmering in the soup.
So I tried another approach: I steamed my matzo balls, and it worked great! These matzo balls held together like champions, and the soup was absolutely wonderful.
Ingredients You'll Need
- Matzo meal.
- Potato starch. This is the binder for your matzo balls, so it's important. You may be able to find it in the baking or natural foods aisle of your supermarket. If not, buy it online.
- Salt.
- Baking powder.
- Non-dairy milk. Use a variety that's unsweetened and unflavored. Try almond milk, cashew milk, or oat milk.
- Olive oil. Another neutral oil can be substituted if needed. Just avoid using coconut oil, which can solidify while you chill your matzo ball mixture.
- Carrots.
- Leeks.
- Garlic.
- Vegetable broth. Use a vegan chicken style broth if you can find one! This will give your matzo ball soup an authentic flavor. King Arthur and Better than Bouillon both make products what will work. If not, simply use your favorite veggie broth.
- Frozen peas.
- Fresh dill.
- Black pepper.
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Start by combining matzo meal, potato starch, salt, baking powder, non-dairy milk and olive oil in a small bowl. Stir the mixture up well, cover the bowl, and stick it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Tip: Don't skip the step of chilling your matzo mixture! This is when the matzo meal becomes saturated with the milk and oil, giving the matzo balls the perfect texture.
To make the soup, heat some olive oil in a pot, then sweat the carrots and leeks (pale green and white parts only) until they begin to soften. Add the garlic and cook it with the veggies for about a minute.
Add your broth, raise the heat, and bring it to boil. Lower the heat and allow the soup to simmer for about 45 minutes.
Tip: If your soup reduces too much while simmering (which can happen if it boils too rapidly), feel free to add some water.
Prepare a steamer while the soup simmers. I like to use a wok and bamboo steamer, which has plenty of room to accommodate all of the matzo balls. If you have a smaller device you can steam them in batches.
Roll the matzo meal mixture into 1-inch balls and arrange them in the steamer so they're not touching. Steam them for 10 minutes.
Let the matzo balls sit for a few minutes when they're done steaming, then add them to the soup and simmer them for a bit.
Take the soup off of heat when it's done, then stir in some thawed frozen peas, fresh dill, salt and pepper to taste.
Ladle your vegan matzo ball soup into bowls and dig in!
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Matzo Ball Soup
Ingredients
For the Matzo Balls
- ¾ cup matzo meal
- 3 tablespoons potato starch
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ cup unflavored and unsweetened non-dairy milk
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (or another neutral flavored cooking oil)
For the Soup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium leek, white and pale green parts only, chopped
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- ½ cup frozen peas, thawed
- ¼ cup chopped fresh dill
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- To make the matzo balls, stir the matzo meal, potato starch, salt, and baking powder together in a medium bowl. Stir in the milk and oil until thoroughly mixed.
- Cover the bowl and chill the mixture for at least 30 minutes, while you begin the soup.
- To make the soup, coat the bottom of a large pot with olive oil and place it over medium heat. Add the leek and carrot. Sweat the veggies for 5 minutes, until the carrot just begins to soften.
- Add the garlic and sauté with the carrots and leek for 1 minute, until very fragrant.
- Stir in the broth. Raise the heat and bring the broth to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and allow the soup to cook for about 45 minutes.
- While the soup simmers, prepare a steaming device. (Note 1)
- Shape the matzo mix into 1-inch balls and arrange them in the steamer so they aren't touching. (Note 2)
- Steam the matzo balls for 10 minutes. Remove them from the steamer when done, then allow them to sit for 5 minutes before adding them to the soup. Let the matzo balls simmer in the soup for 5 to 10 minutes. (Note 3)
- Carefully stir in the peas and cook the soup for about 2 minutes more.
- When the soup is finished cooking, remove it from the heat and season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the dill.
- Ladle into bowls and serve.
Notes
- I like to use a wok fitted with a bamboo steamer, but a simple vegetable steamer and saucepan will work just fine.
- You can steam your matzo balls in batches if necessary.
- The simmer times aren't super critical in this recipe. If the soup has longer than 10 minutes to go when you add the balls, let them simmer longer. If the soup has less than 5 minutes to go, let it simmer a little longer so that the balls have enough simmer time.
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I plan to make these matzo balls for the end of Passover. Do they increase in size after they are steamed? Are they "fluffy" inside or dense? Thank you!
Great question! They will only expand slightly when cooked. As for texture, these are a bit on the softer, slightly dense side rather than super airy — but still tender and delicious! Hope you enjoy them and have a great end to Passover!
IIt's a keeper! I really liked this recipe, had all the ingredients except the leeks for which I substituted regular onions diced almost to minced state. It might have missed that lovely leek subtleity but it was still fab! And I love how you didn't have to use eggs at all ( As a vegetarian, at passover, I already eat AND COOK WITH too many of these) to make these....the idea of STEAMING the matzo balla to make up for the binding ingredient was SO CLEVER! The soup was nice but I had to add some more salt just for taste Iand I had to use dried dill vs. fresh - a cardinal sin for some- and maybe my bottle of it wss too old to retain pungency)
Well, just on a whim, not a very kosher whim, I added a 1.5 tsp of commercial miso paste ("Light- Muso" brand) towards the end to a small sub-batch; it worked well for boosting the flavor a tad.
Excellent recipe and helpful NOTES besides. THANKS
I am very happy to find this recipe and was going to put it together just tonight BUT ran into a slight problem. I have plenty of ONION but NO LEEKS and it's after 10 pm so I cannot run out and buy some. I was just wondering if one CAN successfully swap out a medium size onion fir the same sized leek in the recipe? I LOVE cooking with leek b/c it's SOO wonderfully savory but I dont have it so I can't Or maybe scallions (if so it'd have to be quite a lot of them, right?) Could you please let me know (I see that this isn't exactly a ReCent one, but hope you'll see my comment & respond to it. THANKS!
Yes, you can absolutely substitute an onion. It's a direct substitution, so no other adjustments to the recipe needed. Enjoy!
I love this recipe. I make ahead and freeze them. Then I defrost them in the refrigerator overnight. I put them in a class ovenproof bowl and heat them gently on a low oven during the seder. Then when it's time to serve the soup, I add the warmed matzo balls to each bowl. They freeze well! And as long as they stay separate from the soup, they don't fall apart.
Hands down the best vegan matzo balls we’ve ever had, and I’ve made a lot! They were the perfect size, had the texture and taste that I remember from childhood, but vegan. Also, I used my bamboo steamer in my wok and it was brilliant! Thank you ☺️
I love these! Would anyone know if they can be frozen AFTER the steaming step and then cooked the next day? Just trying to think of ways to speed up the cooking for the day of our Seder.
Glad you like them! I haven't tried freezing them after steaming, but I can't see why it wouldn't work.
The recipe does include tapioca starch. The comment from before about that was from a reader who was confused because she was looking for it in the notes section below the recipe, rather than the recipe itself. Try doing a search for "tapioca" on the page and you will find it.
Hello! I am only seeing potato starch listed for this recipe, no references to tapioca outside of the comment section. Have you found potato starch to work better than tapioca and updated the recipe? I think I'll try with tapioca* tonight since that's what I have on hand. Thanks!
*Or arrowroot. I don't have potato starch but I have tapioca and arrowroot so I'll probably try one of them. Leaning toward tapioca since I think that's what this recipe may have used in the past? If you can shed light I'd so appreciate it. Thank you so much for sharing your recipes!
I did update the recipe a while back because I found potato starch to work better. Tapioca starch should work, but the texture will be a bit different. I haven't tested arrowroot, so I can't say if that will work.
Thank you! I tried both tapioca and arrowroot and they both worked to hold together the balls, but perhaps are a bit gummier than I was going for. I'll look for potato starch next time I'm at the store and give that a go. Delicious regardless!
I know this is an old post, but I just found this recipe and wanted to let you know about something I just discovered as an Ashkenazi Jew. The laws changed! Apparently, they changed in 2015 saying that we can, indeed, eat rice and beans. Here is the article for reference: https://time.com/5183579/kosher-foods-passover/?fbclid=IwAR1JxGpXJwYtVv0aWvnThDdKWij-KNG4ewVU3fvw47zh43qgFRN6E9t6lsI
I would like to make this ahead of time, refrigerate and then heat up for the seder. Does anyone know if this works well and if the matzo balls hold up when reheated? Thanks!
What can I sub for matzah mehl to make this gluten free?
I know there are some brands of gluten-free matzo meal out there. I'm not sure if they're vegan, but definitely worth checking out. Other than that I'm really not sure - I'd have to do some experimentation to see what might work.
I made your recipe for Passover as my daughter is a vegan, and it was so good that I hoarded the leftovers for myself. It re-heated pretty well two additional times. Since the grocery stores have been a little light during the COVID-19 shelter at home order I had to make my own matzoh meal by running 3 sheets of plain matzoh through the food processor and using rice flour in place of tapioca flour. The end result was excellent and I have shared your recipe with my family. I will definitely make again!
I used rice flour in place of tapioca starch and matzoh balls were great!
Delicious and held together beautifully! The matzoh balls turned out really dense in the middle. Should I add more liquid or some baking soda?
I think more baking soda would do the trick!
I had the same issue. Very delicious recipe and I was so excited that the matzoh balls held together! But, pretty dense inside. How much more baking soda would you recommend? Thank you!
I wonder if it would be possible to bake the matzoh balls first to skip the refrigeration time...I'm going to experiment because I procrastinated before our Seder.
I wouldn't recommend it - the refrigeration time gives the matzo a chance to absorb the liquid and soften up. Skipping it might result in crumbly matzo balls.
I'm sorry, I literally choked when I saw Milk in the ingredients. That is so far beyond belief. I know it's a vegan sub, but there would never ever be milk in Matzoh ball soup and even a sub is just plain madness.
Nut milks are vegan, what's the problem?
I totally agree. I made these last year using seltzer instead of plant milk, and they came out great. About to do it again.
I switched up the soup part to be closer to my mom’s tradish, but the matzo balls are perrrrrfect ❤️❤️❤️❤️
I'm also interested in an oil-free version if you make one.
I'm afraid I'm not sure! My instinct tells me that egg replacer might work, but I haven't tried so I can't say for sure. I don't think cornstarch world work, as it's not great at binding.
I'm afraid I'm not sure as I haven't tried the recipe with flax. I'd love to hear how it turns out if you try!
Oh no! The recipe lists the amount of tapioca starch as 3 tablespoons, and has since the April update. Is that not displaying on your screen? Maybe try clearing your browser cache to make sure you're looking at the latest version of the recipe.
Thanks for the suggestion. I did that and I still don’t see tapioca starch amount listed in the ‘Recipe Notes’ section of the recipe. Regardless, thank you for the info!
Please disregard my comments. I realize that I was making my matzo balls using the original recipe because that is the one located in the recipe notes!
Ah, that makes sense! Thanks for the update!
Thanks for the tip! I'll try experimenting to see if I can come up with a substitution for the chickpea flour. :)
Recipe is printed and ready for use to take to my first Seder as a vegan! My question is - I have several dishes to bring (and three young children), is it possible to make this the day before and re-heat?
Thanks!
My only concern would be that the matzo balls are a bit more delicate than non-vegan ones made with egg. I think at the very least they'd get very soft, or at worse you might have some fall apart. You could try doing all the prep work in advance - chopping the veggies, mixing everything up for the matzo balls, and then cooking it the day of serving. I hope that helps! And I hope you enjoy it!
Be careful when bringing this soup to a seder. Several previous commenters said that chickpeas are not kosher for Passover.
I think they pass for Sephardic Jews, as does quinoa. I’m Ashkenazic, but when I first went vegan, I lost so much weight at Passover because what was kosher AND vegan for Passover l? Not much. So beans get a pass from me.
I’m cooking for 40 people, how much should I multiply the recipe by?
The recipe serves 4 very generously, so if you multiply it by 10 you should have more than enough. If you're making lots of food and don't expect everyone to eat a full 1 1/2 cup serving, maybe just multiply it by 6 to 8.
How many matzo balls does this make??
About 16.
This looks so beautiful and I love the flavors going on. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you!
Hi there. Is there a way to make the balls without oil? My husband is on a strict heart healthy diet and can't have oil or eggs or salt and only whole grains.
Thank you so much.
Hi Jan! You may be able to substitute additional non-dairy milk, but I'm not sure! I'm planning on making this again soon, so I'll experiment with an oil free version and share my results.
Ground flaxseed might work, but that would change the flavor.
I'm glad you enjoyed it even though the matzo balls broke up! They are more delicate than non-vegan ones, so make sure you handle them carefully.
OMG this is so cool! I just came across this recipe on your blog and I can't wait to try it. My mom is Jewish so we had tons and tons of matzo ball soup as a kid and I loved it so much. Haven't had it since I stopped eating animal products though. This is a great find! :)
Oh wow! I hope you love this as much as the version you ate as a kid. Enjoy!!
This soup had a really really good flavor but I made it in my instant pot on the matzoh balls completely disintegrated ! It's still was delicious and I devoured it but I think maybe the high-pressure dissolved the balls. Also, question on nutrition facts. Is that per serving or for the whole dish? Thanks!!
I made this tonight. It was easy and
very filling. It’s great having a vegan
version of the popular family recipe.
Awesome!! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much Marilyn!
This looks delicious 😋! I have been searching for a good soup recipe like this! Definitely going to try😉.
Thanks Amy! I hope you enjoy it!
This looks so yummy. I will keep my eye out for the mazo meal.
Thanks Dawn! We loved it - I hope you do too!
Made this tonight and it was so delicious!! Never had it before but I’d always wanted to try. Will def make this again some time. Thanks for a very tasty first course to our Easter dinner! Delish.
Sometimes, I get SUCH cravings for matzo ball soup and wonder whyyyyy the local places don't make a vegetarian version. This post is like a public service to people like me that crave matzo ball soup; thank you!
When I was researching this one I kept reading how the chicken fat is a big deal, so maybe that's why! I've never had authentic matzo ball soup, so maybe I don't know what I'm missing, but I thought this was delicious. :) I hope you enjoy it!
i grew up in a Jewish household and the matzo ball soup was made with homemade chicken stock, and would get a very fatty later on top. I think a lot of it has to do with the taste of the broth, because it’s easy to make matzo balls without eggs. I’ve discovered the no-chicken veggie broth, and it’s makes a big difference. I’ll have to try this recipe out.
Agreed! A good veggie broth is so important! I like to make my own when I have the time, but the no-chicken broth is really good too. I also really like Better Than Bullion. :)
Thank you for the tip!
I'm afraid I'm not sure! I'd need to experiment a bit to see what would work.